


Escape

by anoonzee



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU of an AU, F/F, F/M, Rescue, au divergence, there be some violence here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2018-11-19 15:40:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11316453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anoonzee/pseuds/anoonzee
Summary: The Emperor and his Hound brought their consort to Arkanis, rumored to spend the rest of her confinement on the planet and give birth to his heir. But there are sinister parties looking to terminate the pregnancy and the consort, and another player has entered for different reasons...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexia_Imriel_Courcel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexia_Imriel_Courcel/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Emperor, The Hound and The Whore](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8515909) by [Alexia_Imriel_Courcel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexia_Imriel_Courcel/pseuds/Alexia_Imriel_Courcel). 



Inside an old building on the outskirts of a city, the Master waited patiently in the dim light. The sounds of a small craft landing nearby stopped. The Master nodded at one of their attendants, who turned to open the door for their returning comrades.

Two figures in gray armor entered with their captive, nearly lifting them by the arms. The captive wore a uniform from the palace, her head covered in a sack and hands immobilized in shackles. The gray-armored figures looked askance at their Master, who beckoned them with a curl of their black-gloved finger.

"I take it the mission was cleanly executed?" the Master spoke in a deep, synthesized voice.

The soldiers nodded. "All but this one have taken care of," one of them replied in a similarly synthesized voice, "and we left enough explosives onboard to make it look like no one survived."

The Master nodded approvingly. It had been risky to infiltrate them, but it was a risk worth taking. "Bring her to me."

One of the soldiers pulled off the sack from their captive's head. The woman blinked, trying to adjust to the new level of lighting. The other soldier pulled off the tape from her mouth as the Master rose from their chair. They forced the woman to her knees as their Master approached.

The woman looked up. What the prisoner saw was a figure dressed in a voluminous cloak the color of ash, the hood and shadow covering their head. A gloved hand reached out to tip her face further up; what the woman saw under the hood made her gasp. The Master did not react; they were used to such reactions. Their real face was hidden under a featureless mask with a human complexion. The woman swallowed as the Master turned her face as though inspecting it. The Master could tell that the woman was wondering if they were male or female. Wouldn’t she like to know; it was this ambiguity that kept the Master under the radar for years.

"It would be tedious to try to get you to talk, miss," the Master murmured. "Your training is about as stringent as that of a Stormtrooper. Best to get to the root of the matter..."

The next—and last—thing the woman knew was the horrifying sensation of her skull splitting open. When the Master got what they needed, the woman collapsed senseless to the floor.

The Master nodded to their soldiers. "Excellent work. Take the prisoner, redress her, and bring her to that charity near the outskirts of the city. She'll have a nicer life here than at the palace."

As the soldiers take the unconscious woman away, the Master turned to their attendants. "Get ready: we're heading to Arkanis."

\---

The Master made careful preparations before arriving at their destination. Pulling in some favors, the Master arrived at Arkanis with a handful of comrades on a supply ship. The preparation and number were important; the Master would prefer not to ignite the suspicions of one particular person inside the residence. They knew that the Emperor's Force user would screen the place first, so they waited for a day to pass before they approached the residence.

The Master touched the object hidden inside their robes and smiled. It pays to be over-prepared.

Next was to infiltrate the place. The Master secured all their positions inside the residence, timing it while the Force user was busy. It seemed that the Emperor was displeased with several people and ordered a few heads to roll. The Master didn't care as they took their positions.

They added five more people to the death toll.

\---

It seemed like the Maker was with them today. Something had happened that separated their target from the Emperor and his hound. It took a few days before the disguised Master was in the presence of their objective.

The woman was hugely pregnant, and looked to be in considerable distress that had nothing to do with her condition. She seemed surprised when the lead Handmaiden asked her questions. From what the Master had gathered from their prisoner before they wiped her mind, the pregnant woman was brought to Arkanis to keep her safe. She was in an unusual position: a former member of the Resistance who seemed to have caught the fancy of the Emperor and turned into his shared bedwarmer with the Master of the Knights of Ren. Now she carries his heirs (the Master raised their eyebrow at this information), and there are those who would want to see her and her children dead.

The Master forced themselves to relax.

_Soon._

\---

They found an opening after dinner one night. The Force user was out on business and the Emperor was arguing with his sister in his private quarters. This time, they left the woman out of the discussion.

It was time.

After helping the woman dress down for the night, the Master removed the force suppression from themselves and turned to the Handmaidens.

"You will leave this room and retire for the night," the Master said calmly.

The Handmaidens' faces went blank as they said in unison, "I will leave this room and retire for the night." They turned around and left the room. The Master waved a hand; the metallic sounds of locks activating filled the room.

The Master turned and saw the woman walking away from them, shocked that one of the Handmaidens tending to her could use the Force. She probably didn't expect to see another Force user aside from Kylo Ren.

"Are you here to kill me?" she whispered, her soft voice laced with iron as she looked at the fake Handmaiden warily. She placed a protective hand over her swollen belly.

"No, [Y/N]," the fake Handmaiden replied, putting a finger behind her ear.

[Y/N] gasped as the features of the Handmaiden faded away, leaving behind an eerie, featureless face. The Master raised their hands to disengage the locking mechanism of their mask. When the mask was removed, [Y/N]'s legs seem to give out from under her. The Master dropped their mask and jumped towards [Y/N], easing her gently to a nearby chair.

"Tara?" [Y/N] whispered. The teenager she once looked up to once was now this stern-looking stranger. She started to tear up, looking at the relative she thought had died years ago. "You're alive? But I thought..."

"Shhh, it's okay," Tara murmured, reaching out to hug her cousin by the shoulder. "It's a long story, dearest, and I can wait to hear how you ended up here, if you're willing to share it with me." The older woman placed a callused hand over [Y/N]'s face. "I'm getting you out of here."

To Tara's shock, [Y/N] shook her head. "I can't," she said in a shaky voice. "They'll never stop—they’ll hunt me—us down. They're going to make one of my daughters Hux's heir..."

Tara snorted. "I am _not_ leaving you here, cousin! They RAPED you! Abused you even! Don't tell me they're going to let you raise the children with them." At [Y/N]'s silence, Tara rolled their eyes before gently reaching into her cousin's mind. She almost didn’t have to; her cousin’s worries and fears were at the very surface. And she realized that she couldn’t dig deeper; something was protecting [Y/N]’s from her probe. Tara looked at her cousin’s belly. _He didn’t…_

"Dearest," Tara said softly, tamping down her rage. "Those beasts will never show you the kindness and affection you deserve. They're selfish, cruel and manipulative. Once your children are born, they will go back to taking you without your consent."

[Y/N]'s mouth trembled; Tara could sense her fear for the future. What happened to the sweet, spunky child she left behind? While Tara lived her life as a bounty hunter for hire after the second Jedi purge, her cousin joined General Organa's Resistance. The Force-user thought that her last remaining family had perished, until she received information about the Emperor's new concubine who used to be a member of the failed Resistance. The descriptions of the woman raised Tara's hopes; it was only until Tara's soldiers had captured the decoy Handmaiden and she scanned her memories that she realized her cousin had both survived and suffered under the new regime.

"[Y/N], I never wanted this to happen to you," Tara murmured, squeezing her shoulder with gentle affection. "But you're not alone now! I'm here, and I'm going to make sure that they will never hurt you or your children ever again."

Before [Y/N] could answer, they heard someone knocking. Tara swooped down to grab her mask and put it back on.

"It's the Emperor's sister," she muttered, the vocoder changing her voice to a gender neutral synth. "Look, I know how grateful you are to her, but how much can she help you when she's here most of the time? And let's face it, even _she_ can't save you from whoever wants to kill you and your daughters. Yeah, I heard about it, and frankly, the First Order is doing a shit job of finding them."

[Y/N] winced, clutching her belly again. They could hear Arabella calling [Y/N]'s name softly. She sounded worried.

"If Kylo Ren can't rout them out," Tara gritted out. "Who can?"

Tara could feel [Y/N] giving in.

"You don't know who's behind this either?" [Y/N] whispered.

Tara shook her head. "My guess is there's someone inside the palace who is masterminding this plot. And once you deliver the children, the danger of them getting hurt or kidnapped increases exponentially."

[Y/N] closes her eyes.

"Arabella, forgive me..."

\---

After putting a cloak and a pair of sturdy shoes on her cousin, Tara unlocked the door (Arabella had been unable to open them, considering they were coded to her voice) and took the Emperor’s sister hostage at blaster point. Tara had put on her Handmaiden's face, but did not bother to hide her Force signature again. She knew that the moment she dropped her cover, Kylo Ren would have picked up her Force signature and there was no point in hiding it again. They were getting out of Arkanis, and Arabella was their ticket out.

Before opening the door, Tara had sent a message out to her comrades; one of them went on ahead to fire up a getaway transport and park it at the back of the house.

"Master, the Knight is approaching," one of them reported.

"Very well," Tara murmured. "Guess it was too good to be true to avoid this."

"You're not going to get away with this," Arabella hissed. "I suggest you leave now without taking [Y/N] if you want to live..."

"And if you want [Y/N] _and_ your nieces to live, I suggest you shut up and help us on our way," Tara hissed back. "I know about the murder plot against her. Your brother and his bitch can't even sniff them out. I'm actually doing everyone a favor."

Arabella's eyes widened. "You're not here to hurt her?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "I'm here to _save_ her,” she said acidly. “From what I've learned, she will be better off with us than with your brother." After a pause: "Seven hells, she'll be safer with a rathar than with your brother."

Tara grinned when she sensed the conflicting reactions from the small, red-headed woman.

They were nearing the escape point. It was on the opposite side where the launch pad was. [Y/N] whimpered when she saw who was blocking their way.

Armitage Hux, Emperor of the known galaxy, was standing in the middle of the hallway. He looked a little ruffled, far from his impeccable appearance. He held a blaster against the head of one of Tara's comrades, disguised as one of the servants.

"How dare you?!" the Emperor snarled. "Let them go and I will try to make your death a little less painful."

The Master tilted her head sideways.

"No, I don't think that's going to happen," Tara said lightly. To her comrade, she nodded. "Go."

The man—who looked the worse for wear after getting trounced by Hux—grabbed the Emperor's hand. [Y/N] and Arabella screamed as Hux tensed from the electric shock that came from his hostage’s hand. He reflexively pulled the trigger on the blaster, blowing up part of the man's face before collapsing in a twitching heap. Expecting a horrible, gory mess in front of them, Tara's hostage and cousin were surprised to find electrical components in the hole left by the blaster.

"Tsk...it's going to be a headache to repair that," Tara said lightly as the droid awkwardly stood up. "Come along; there's a ship and freedom waiting for us!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Knight arrives...

Tara nudged the redhead in front of her to get her moving. Arabella and [Y/N] were pale, looking down at the unconscious Emperor.

"He'll live," Tara murmured; she said it more for [Y/N]'s benefit than Arabella's.

Ahead of them, three people were waiting by the doors. They had been waiting for them when their comrade was intercepted by Hux. One of them stepped forward to support their disfigured friend, whose head was twitching and kept veering to the left.

To the other two, Tara said, "Take care of them for me. I need to deal with this 'Knight'."

The masked woman did an about-face, dropping the blaster and unsheathing a slim, cylindrical object from her waist with her right hand.

She had sensed his rage the moment Hux was stunned. Oh, but she was more justified in HER rage.

They violated her cousin. It was time for payback.

Tara walked back to the hallway just as Kylo Ren turned the corner. The large man covered a lot of ground with his long strides, the expression on his face promising death. Still under the guise of the dead Handmaiden, Tara narrowed her eyes as the Knight activated his red saber. A cracking, sizzling sound filled the hallway.

Behind her, the woman standing next to [Y/N] lifted a small device, waving it behind [Y/N]. The device beeped somewhere on the back of her neck. [Y/N] jumped when the woman raised her collar and pressed something cold against it.

"The Master has anticipated that you would be fitted with a tracker," the woman said calmly as she started to deactivate the object. "When we leave here, the Master will help you remove it."

[Y/N] barely registered the woman's words as she watched her cousin move Hux out of the way with the Force before activating her own saber. A line of purple plasma erupted from the cylinder. [Y/N] looked up, spotting the brief flare of astonishment on Ren's face before he lunged for the attack.

[Y/N] and Arabella instinctively stepped back as the two Force users started to duel. The hallway filled with the sounds of plasma colliding against plasma and Ren's snarls.

"When I'm through with you, I'll MAKE SURE you're dead!" the large man growled. It only made Tara laugh breathlessly. She moved with speed and grace, despite wearing the voluminous robes of a Handmaiden.

"And here I thought you never learn from your experiences," Tara replied, blocking a spinning blow from Ren. She reached out with the Force, sending several pieces of knick-knacks careening towards the Knight. "Think fast, Ben!"

"Don't call me that!" Kylo snarled, slicing through the projectiles. While he halved a waist-high vase, he was hit from the side by a large chair, knocking him off-balance. Before he could get up, he felt something clamp on his wrist.

The moment the bracelet closed over his wrist, Kylo could feel the disconnection from the Force. He dropped his lightsaber as he felt the Force dissipate from the tips of his fingers, the sensation creeping up his arms and legs.

He turned his head to the side and spotted the intruder crouching over him, head tilted to one side. "What is this?" he hissed. His eyes widened when he realized that he was frozen in place.

Tara grinned. "A little gift for you, Ben," she said silkily. "A nifty little Force suppression cuff, made-to-order!"

She straightened up and raised her hand, lifting Kylo in the air. She stepped forward as Kylo was lowered enough that she could whisper in his ear.

"Don't worry: we'll take good care of the girls," she whispered in his ear. She grinned as the furious man starts growling. "Do let us know when you've caught the people who tried to have [Y/N] killed, hmmm."

Tara pushed Kylo away from her, making him crash on the other end of the hallway. She then lifted him up and threw him against the wall until she was satisfied that he was unconscious. She strides over to him and retrieves the cuff, replacing it with a set of handcuffs, and then stands up and kicks him in the ribs. Satisfied, Tara turns around and jogs back to the group of people on the other end of the hallway, smiling as she sees Arabella's face. The Emperor's older sister was pale but the iron in her voice proved she can hold her own.

"You'll never get away with this!" Arabella seethed. "They'll hunt you down and kill you for taking the Emperor's consort!"

Tara snorted. "You mean the Emperor's _victim_?" she snaps. "How like a Hux to downplay all the abuse."

The Master stepped forward towards Arabella, who didn't move from her spot, even when Tara moved close enough that noses touched. [Y/N] looked between the two women with wide eyes.

"Let me repeat this: I'm not 'taking' the Emperor's consort," Tara breathed. "This is a rescue."

Distantly, from one end of the grand house, there was a muffled explosion. This was Tara's cue; she waved her hand in front of the red-head's face, giving the force command to make Arabella sleep.

\---

[Y/N] woke up on a large, comfortable bed. She blinked and looked around the spacious, tastefully decorated room; the last thing she remembered was boarding the escape shuttle and Tara gently telling her that she would put her to sleep for the duration of the trip.

"Good morning, cousin."

[Y/N] turned; she saw Tara standing on a nearby sofa. Her cousin was mask-free and dressed casually in a loose-fitting white blouse and a pair of dark gray pants. Tara stood up and reached around to pick up a tray from a side table before walking towards [Y/N].

"Where are we?" [Y/N] asked hoarsely; she feels quite parched.

Tara set the tray on the bedside table and helped her cousin rise from the bed before handing her a glass of water. "We're on a planet in a somewhere in the Outer Rim. Great place, good people, lots of sights to see, and their government owed me a favor after I helped them five years ago, so they set me up here for life." Tara smiled and tucked a strand of hair from [Y/N]'s face. "You must have so many questions, and so do I."

[Y/N] blinked. She decided to drink the water first before saying, "I do, but I'm also scared and...” Her voice cracked at the last word; she started to sob, putting the glass back on the tray with a shaking hand. "They're going to find where we are; they want my babies..."

Tara went to sit next to her cousin and hug her, rubbing her arm in comfort. "Oh, [Y/N]," she murmured, grinning at the younger woman. "They'll have to find us first."

\---

After breakfast, Tara summoned two women to the room to assist [Y/N] with a bath while she went to the wardrobe to look for clothes. Unlike the Handmaidens from the Emperor’s household, these women were all smiles and hovered over [Y/N] like a pair of doting mother hens. It was a far cry from the Handmaidens' treatment of [Y/N]: where Astrid and her cronies treated her like a mindless doll and gave her the occasional snide looks, these two motherly types were chatty and kind and full of advice for her condition.

"Edra, Mari, I was wondering if we can hire your services to help my cousin after delivery?" said Tara, entering the bathroom with a robe over one arm and a bottle of oil; she overheard Edra's comment that [Y/N] was nearly ready to pop. "We're going to need all the help we can get taking care of the twins."

The women were beside themselves with excitement; [Y/N] wondered if the excitement was due to the planet's non-local celebrity requesting for their help or if they simply like babies. She rubbed her belly when she felt the twins move inside.

"They're nurses by profession," Tara shared after the women helped dressing [Y/N] and left. "They helped me out when I first came here to deal with the trouble their government was having. When things settled down and I decided to stay here, they drop by from time to time for lunch or afternoon snacks or just an excuse to gossip." She looked over at her cousin. "You look a LOT more comfortable in that dress than those frou-frou things they made you wear."

Later, Tara gave [Y/N] a tour of the house. It was modest in comparison to the Hux family estate in Arkanis, but looking around, [Y/N] wondered how her cousin could afford to live in style.

Tara herself explained: she lived working as a bounty hunter and part-time smuggler, learning to mask her Force signature most of the time to avoid detection by the First Order. She officially "retired" after helping the government of this planet eradicate the terrorists plaguing them. During the last five years, Tara took to building custom-made droids.

"The ones you met on Arkanis are not for sale," she explained. "I've been using them for some…contractual work I do from time to time. You know, I was out of my mind when I learned that the First Order had taken you prisoner after the Resistance fell, and it took months before I could learn what happened to you."

Tara looked at [Y/N] with a mournful look. "Nearly lost my mind: Hux and Kylo Ren, some kind of murder-plot, AND they forced you into getting pregnant." She shook her head, her expression turning murderous. "Beasts."

Her face softened as she sensed the riot of emotions in her cousin. Tara reached out and took [Y/N]'s hand in hers. "Be at ease; they're your daughters, my nieces! I’m going to be an aunt! I already fell in love with them as soon as I could sense them when I stepped into that house. You don't have to be afraid anymore, [Y/N]. Let me help you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tara's lightsaber was green in the drafts, but after a bit of researching, I changed it to another color. It fits with what I have in mind for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Updates after the events from Arkanis...

There was no need for Tara to return to her former life as a bounty hunter-slash-smuggler. The central government of Del Mara made her an honorary citizen five years ago after she helped them take down the terrorists plaguing them for over a year. The terrorists were formerly space pirates who used to do clandestine business on the planet before deciding to stay and leech Del Mara of its resources. No one was able to contest them, as the pirates held two state schools full of children hostage. Tara had been contracted by a desperate trader from Del Mara, whose son and daughter were trapped at one of the schools. It took some careful planning and three weeks before the terrorists were neutralized and the children reunited with their grateful families.

She declined their offer of making her a part of their newly fledged government and a juicy cut of the profits from trading. In reality, Tara was tired of living a space hobo life and decided to set roots on Del Mara. She only requested for a place to stay and set up shop to build droids. The house was situated near the gray cliffs facing the sea, surrounded by trees. To the public, Tara admitted that she liked to see the ocean and the solitude.

The same trader who hired her services helped her find the spot and build her home. He also helped her build the dock for her ship and the bunker under her house.

During those three months while she helped with the rescue of Del Mara's children, Tara had realized the situational advantage of the planet. It was located in a neutral system, far from the reaches of the First Order AND the New Republic. She had a place to go to after completing some choice contracts that she couldn't pass up.

"It's to keep me sharp, Vegas," she explained to her trader friend and ex-client when he asked her where she went off to. "They're mostly rescue missions and deliveries, no biggie."

But more importantly, she was far away from the man she once knew as Ben Solo. He turned from the Light and destroyed her chances of becoming a Jedi. Because of him, she was forced into making questionable choices just to survive.

Five years later, she found that he interfered in her life again after discovering that her cousin was still alive. In rescuing her family, she had given up her anonymity; he now knows there's one survivor from the purge.

\---

Meanwhile, the house was being turned into a home. Tara had prepared the rooms for [Y/N] and her child, anticipating that her rescue mission would be a success. It was a success, but when she realized that her cousin was expecting twins, Tara immediately commissioned for an extra crib and brought color palettes for [Y/N] to pore over with.

That was when Tara realized that something was wrong. She didn't use the Force to pry into her cousin's mind; the fact that one of the twins was a Force user meant that [Y/N] was naturally shielded from deep mental probes. It was the look of panic on her cousin's face that gave Tara pause.

She observed [Y/N] closely during her first month on Del Mara. At first, her cousin couldn't seem to believe that she was no longer under the thumbs of the Emperor and the Knight of Ren. Tara had to gently coax her out of her room to get her to eat breakfast each morning. A female-looking droid named Janna was reprogrammed and assigned to [Y/N] to assist her with dressing up and other needs. Edra and Mari visited at least once a week, and between the two women, they talked to [Y/N] about what to expect during and after childbirth while they massaged her swollen feet.

Tara also took one of the rare advantages of her prestigious status and requested home visits from two specialists. She wouldn't have asked these doctors to make the trip to her isolated home, but for [Y/N] and her children, she pulled some strings.

Dr. Taraan monitored [Y/N]'s pregnancy and health.

"[Y/N] is quite far along," Dr. Taraan said after conducting some tests (her ship was a mobile clinic parked outside the house). "And her due date could be closer than we think, particularly with twins. A C-section may be required, in case of complications." She turned to [Y/N] and gave her a reassuring look. "Don't worry, [Y/N]. We're here for you and the little ones."

The second specialist drops by every other day, a soft-spoken woman named Dr. Haram.

"She definitely has post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. Haram shared after [Y/N] was brought back to her rooms. "Your cousin is unable to share what has happened to her, and that alone shows how bad it was. I will do all I can to help her, but this is a shadow that will never go away."

Tara nodded grimly.

\---

Tara left the house in the wee hours of the morning and took a speeder out for a ride to the seaside town below and headed straight for the docks. Under the soft blue glow of the lights, she could make out the lone figure standing on the docks nearby.

She adjusted the hood over her head and looked at the side mirror on her speeder to ensure that the faceless setting was still on it. Satisfied, she alights from the vehicle and walked towards her contact.

"Balmy night, isn't it?" she said by way of greeting.

The square-jawed man shrugged. "Yeah, but the weather will change soon."

Tara raised an eyebrow at this coded response. "Good change I'm hoping, Moreb?" she asked in a deadpan voice.

"You tell me, Miss Mask," the man called Moreb murmured. "Word is out that the Emperor lost his baby mama AND his marbles on Arkanis. Even ordered Kylo Ren to lop off a few heads before heading back to Naboo and organizing a search party." The man turned to give Tara a look. "There's also a bounty on your head. Someone seems to know you."

"Know me, how?" Tara asked. This was a legitimate question; she created an alias when she first became a bounty hunter. Moreb was one of the five living people in the Galaxy who knew both her alias and her real name and background. The other three are currently on this planet; the fifth one was hopefully far away with his Emperor.

From the pockets inside his coat, Moreb took out a brown pipe and lit it up. He took a deep whiff from the pipe before replying: "They used your real name and gave a description of your face, ‘cept it looks younger. Also noted that you're a Force-user with a purple lightsaber."

Tara huffed in wry amusement as her mind started moving a mile a minute. "So he doesn't remember what I look like, huh?" she said airily, as though this development wasn't worrying. "I'm hurt, honestly."

Moreb snorted. "None of the regulars know it's about you, since the First Order didn't connect your _other_ name to your real name," he continued, making a reference to your alias. "And it helps that you're on a planet that's out of their radar. Best to keep your head down until this blows over. Course, this means I can't send you new contracts to work on."

Tara shrugged. She wasn't too chuffed about getting cut out from the action. "I'm in a good place right now buddy, so no complaints there," she assured him. "And you should take your own advice and keep your head down. We got room in my place for a curmudgeon such as yourself."

Moreb grinned and shook his head. "I'll pass. And don't you worry about me. Besides, you need a lookout in case they head out here."

Tara looked at her friend. She reached up and took off her mask; she wanted to show her friend her sincerity. "You don't have to do that, Moreb," she said quietly. "I don't want the First Order to get on your trail..."

Moreb waved his hand. "I still owe you, Miss Mask," he muttered. "And I'd like to see the First Order try."

"DON'T give them a reason to try," Tara growled. "I didn't save your life just so you could become their next target."

"You worry too much," Moreb muttered. "You're getting soft in your old age."

"Hah!" Tara snorted; Moreb was at least ten years her senior. "Anyway, if you're not going to stay at my place, you can have some of this new stuff I've been working on..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boxes filled with surprises...

Every three or five days, a box would be delivered to Tara's doorstep by courier. The size of the boxes varied; the smallest box was big enough to contain a gorgeous silver bracelet, and the largest box delivered so far contained a DIY kit to build an enormous rocking chair with plush seats. The day the rocking chair arrived, [Y/N] and Janna stepped into the foyer and saw Tara grinning at the cover of the box the chair came in, from its nondescript beige top to its green-felt underside. Two of Tara's human-like droids were already laying out the pieces of the rocking chair on the floor, ready to assemble.

"Are these from admirers, Tara?" [Y/N] asked as Tara helped her to get settled on the newly-assembled rocking chair.

They were sitting in the room that had been converted into a nursery. To Tara's delight and relief, the therapy sessions with Dr. Haram, the chummy visits from Edra and Mari, and the quiet atmosphere of Tara's secluded home seemed to be doing small wonders for [Y/N]. [Y/N] started to relax and slowly became a bit more engaging in conversation; she finally made a suggestion of her own for the color scheme for the nursery (cream walls with painted greenery). Tara then discovered that [Y/N] was drawn to the garden at the back of the house, and made it a point to accompany her cousin around the tranquil space, showing [Y/N] the different plants and pointing out the beautiful multi-colored fish that swam in the fountain. On Dr. Haram's recommendation, Tara did not pry into [Y/N]'s previous circumstances (she made sure that Edra and Mari didn't pry as well, on pain of banishment from her house), and she made sure that she was there for her cousin when she hit her low moods.

Tara grinned, taking a seat across from her cousin. "A few of them were orders I made, like that rocking chair you're sitting on and the baby clothes from last week," she explained. "The others are gifts from old friends, like those bracelets."

[Y/N] frowned; her cousin had insisted she keep the silver and gold jewelry. "Tara, I can't possibly accept them..."

Tara raised her hand. "At least, keep them for the girls. Tell them they're gifts from Auntie Tara."

[Y/N] gave a small smile and rubbed her hand over the swell of her stomach. "I don't even have names for them yet," she whispered, a knot forming on her brow.

"It'll come to you, hon," Tara said. "And I hear Tara is a good name for a girl," she added in a teasing lilt.

[Y/N] giggled, and Tara smiled.

\---

Later that night, after making sure that her cousin was asleep, Tara entered her bedroom and raised her hand to use the Force to draw the blinds. From the pocket of her robes, she lifted a data stick.

She hadn't exactly lied to her cousin. The packages that arrived were either ordered by her or were gifts from friends—her friends from her smuggling heyday, in fact. Tara had been unable to talk Moreb out of spying on the First Order's movements, so the two friends decided on a "safe" way to bring news to Tara. They fell back on an old standby they developed years before: the interior color of the box would show Tara whether the First Order was far from Del Mara, and the data stick would be hidden in a niche carved into the walls of the box. Vegas was their go-between for the deliveries.  As long as the inner walls of those packages were green, Tara could breathe easy.

Since their secret meeting, Tara was given updates on the movements of the First Order, courtesy of Moreb. Tara had no idea how Moreb got his intel, though she had always suspected that the grumpy loner had an extensive network of "friends".

She always did wonder how he managed to procure a holo of [Y/N] from inside the palace...

Tara walked over to a seemingly blank stretch of wall with a painting of a white building in a jungle setting. She waved her hand in front of it; there was a click and the wall opened to reveal a slim computer console hidden in the recess. She put the data stick into the slot and began to review the information on the stick.

So far, the First Order had been concentrating their search efforts on the worlds under their jurisdiction. Del Mara was not one of those worlds, tucked away in a quieter space neighborhood in the Outer Rim. People were avoiding the Emperor as much as possible, as the smallest infractions seem to send him into a fit; he had a nasty tendency to send the unfortunate person into a cell. As for Kylo Ren, he seemed to have returned to the awful habit of destroying machinery when he's pissed.

Tara reviewed all this information and retrieved the data stick from the console. She snapped the stick into two and tossed it into the recycling bin as the walls began to close over the console.

From the little that her cousin shared, it seemed that her two tormentors were giving her some space and didn't force her into doing anything as her pregnancy advanced. During [Y/N]'s short stay on Arkanis, Arabella had divined the truth of [Y/N]'s situation and Hux's guilt over his actions. Apparently, it was the Emperor's petite sister who had insisted on separating [Y/N] from the two men.

She ought to thank Arabella for making the extraction easier.

Tara just shook her head as she headed for the refresher. They were beasts as far as she was concerned; they made her cousin's life hell and a target for assassination by unknown entities. For all the protection that the Emperor and Kylo surrounded [Y/N] with, they still haven't found the mastermind behind the attacks to her cousin and her unborn children. And their insistence that [Y/N] wasn't their slave (according to [Y/N])? Yeah right.

Let them waste their life trying to find [Y/N], Tara thought savagely as she looked at herself in the mirror over the sink. The tracking chip under the skin in [Y/N]'s back had already been extracted, and after finding a similar chip on the necklace she wore, Tara removed it from her unconscious cousin's neck and hacked it to pieces with her lightsaber before departing Arkanis.

And it would be difficult for Kylo Ren to try to find her through the Force. As long as [Y/N] stays within the property, he would not get a bead on her.

At the thought of Kylo Ren, unbidden, _a thin scream echoed from the recesses of her mind. The phantom flash of pain dealt from a strike from a lightsaber, the sensation of water as she was carried away by the current..._

Tara stepped back, studying the large crack in the mirror.

She breathed in deeply.


	5. Chapter 5

The following week proved to be the storm that followed the calm of the past days.

It began after an appointment with Dr. Taraan. The slender, dark-skinned woman insisted that both Tara and [Y/N] were present before delivering the news that [Y/N]’s pregnancy was determined as high-risk.

“Natural delivery is definitely out of the question,” Dr. Taraan said calmly, looking between the cousins with her light green eyes. She did not fail to notice [Y/N] squeezing Tara’s hand. “For everyone’s well-being, I must insist that [Y/N] be checked-in at my clinic in order to…”

“Dr. Taraan, I understand the risks involved,” Tara cut in. “However, for her protection and safety, I cannot allow my cousin to leave the property.”

When Tara reached out to Drs. Taraan and Haram, the Force-user gave the barest facts about her cousin: that [Y/N] was rescued from a terrible situation, but she needed to lay low on Del Mara to protect her and her unborn children until the danger passed. The doctors each swore an oath to keep their silence.

Dr. Taraan took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I understand the situation, but I want to keep an eye on [Y/N]’s pregnancy until the day of the birth. You must also understand that I have other patients to look out for…”

“Which is why I’d like to propose a third option,” said Tara. She turned to look at Janna standing on [Y/N]’s other side. “Janna here is [Y/N]’s personal droid. I can upgrade her into a medical-care droid so that she can watch out for my cousin’s well-being.”

“But will the children be safely delivered here at home?” [Y/N] asked softly, looking a bit worried.

“My mobile clinic is well-equipped with everything we need for a C-section,” Dr. Taraan replied. She gives [Y/N] a reassuring smile as she continues, “I’ve delivered ten babies in that thing ever since Mr. Vegas donated it to me a year ago.”

After Janna showed the doctor out, [Y/N] let out a hiss.

“I thought they were lenient with me because they were afraid the babies would sense that they were abusing me,” she said in a low voice.

Tara reached out to place a comforting hand on [Y/N]’s shoulder, keeping her face neutral. “Because at least one of the girls is Force sensitive,” she says softly.

[Y/N] nods. “Of course they need to coddle me and keep me calm,” she continues bitterly. “They have to keep me healthy until the babies are born, and after that, they’ll start all over again…” She choked on a sob. “I can’t go back, Tara! _We_ can’t go back!”

When she started to cry, Tara stood up and bent down to hug her cousin, placing [Y/N]’s head on her shoulder as the younger woman shuddered and gasped.

“You and the children aren’t going back,” Tara whispered into [Y/N]’s ear as she rubbed a spot between her shoulder blades in a soothing motion. “I’ll make sure of it.”

\--

Between herself, [Y/N]’s two attending physicians and with a rush order to Vegas, Tara had reprogrammed Janna to be a medically-competent companion droid for [Y/N] in the space of two days. However, it almost took that long for [Y/N] to calm down as Dr. Taraan’s assessment, and Tara decided to share some things with her cousin to help ease her anxiety.

“There’s something I need to show you, [Y/N],” Tara said softly as she helped her cousin wrap up in a large shawl as Janna stood by.

The three of them were standing in the middle of Tara’s bedroom. It was the same size as [Y/N]’s room, yet was sparsely furnished in comparison, consisting of one bed, a night stand, and one large painting on the lone blank wall facing the bed. After wrapping [Y/N] snugly in the shawl, Tara raised her hand and used the Force to draw the blinds closed over the windows and to close and lock the door of her bedroom.

[Y/N] looked puzzled as she watched Tara approach the framed painting on the wall. It showed a white building surrounded by flora that brings to mind a jungle setting. Tara waved her hand in front of this painting; [Y/N] gasped as something clicked and the wall opened outward, revealing a computer console in the recessed space. She turned to look at her companion droid, who looked calmly on as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

“Is there something you want to show me on the computer?” [Y/N] asked.

“The computer is just a part of it,” Tara replied, beckoning her cousin to come closer. Once [Y/N] was standing next to her, Tara then typed in the Aurebesh letters “Y-A-V-I-N”.

[Y/N] nearly jumped as the console smoothly glided away from them into a deeper recess in the wall before sliding sideways into a cranny. [Y/N] blinked as the newly presented path was lit up and a set of elevator doors at the end slid open.

Before [Y/N] could ask, Tara turned around and addressed Janna. “You know what to do?”

Janna bowed respectfully. “Yes, Master.”

Tara nodded and gestured for [Y/N] to follow her.

“What is all this?” [Y/N] whispered as they entered the elevator. Tara pressed the down button and the doors slid closed before she answers the question:

“Five years ago, when I was contracted by Vegas to help rescue his children—and everyone else’s children—from the pirates, I went on a reconnaissance mission to see what we’re dealing with. I tailed one group to this very place. Back then, this was just a plot of land with the entrance a literal hole in the ground they managed to hide with a holo of a boulder. It used to be an aurodium mine that dried out, but these guys were hoping that there might be something left. I snuck in and found that they used captured sentients from other Rim worlds to do their dirty work for them. I managed to free the slaves and rally them up to get rid of the pirates here. That was the beginning of our campaign to rid Del Mara of these pirates.”

“Aurodium?” [Y/N] repeated, frowning.

“It’s an element that can be used as currency in the Outer Rim, especially on planets where credits aren’t accepted,” Tara explained. “Anyway, after getting rid of the pirates, the government let me have the pick of the land around the planet, and I decided on this one. Ah, here we are.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Tara and [Y/N] stepped out, with the former grinning as the latter looked around with her in awe of her surroundings.

“Between Vegas and some friends from out-of-town, we reinforced the walls and the floor. During the rally to overpower the pirates, one of the slaves got a little over-excited with the drilling gun and punched a Wookie-sized hole over there, so we decided to open it up. We can park a light freighter in here, if you can believe it.”

“This…actually reminds me of the Resistance base in D’Qar,” [Y/N] murmured, drawing the shawl close over her chest against the chill.

“But this isn’t the reason why I brought you here, [Y/N],” Tara said quietly. She leads [Y/N] to the back, towards a nondescript door. “Much as I like to think that the First Order wouldn’t find us here, I never assume that to be the case. The moment we got you here, I came up a contingency plan.”

Tara opened the door and called out, “Lights on.”

Once the room was lit up, from the narrow hallway to the wider room beyond, [Y/N]’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“This place should rival Taraan’s mobile clinic, except for the mobile part,” Tara shares. “I’ve been stocking up on medical supplies and everything you and the babies will need. In case the inevitable happens, I’ve programmed every droid in this house to lead you and the babies (if they’re born by then) here. This should hold you up until help arrives.” Here, Tara sighs. “I came up with a contingency plan with some friends of mine In the event I’m not here to get you out, they’ll get you and the girls out to safety.”

[Y/N] frowned at this. Already she sensed the flaw in this contingency plan. “Tara, this door and these walls won’t stop Kylo’s lightsaber…”

But Tara smiled at her and raised her hands to point at the end of the hallway. [Y/N] stepped forward to see what her cousin was pointing at…and gasped.

“Are those…?” [Y/N] began to ask.

“Yes,” Tara answered, grinning.

“Tara, where did you find them? Or did you have them built? These haven’t been seen or used since the fall of the Old Republic!”

Tara chuckles. “You’d be surprised at the people you meet as a smuggler. Now, let’s go over the contingency plan…”

\--

It was about an hour later before the cousins emerged back into Tara’s room. Aside from Janna, another human-like droid approached Tara. His face and eye socket was repaired and he no longer veers to the left, though Tara had yet to paint the synthetic patch over the hole the Emperor put into his face to match his olive-toned complexion. It looked like he suffered from an odd skin condition.

“Master, this package just arrived from the Vegas residence,” he says as he holds out a small, rectangular box. It was the same size as the boxes that held the silver and gold bracelets Tara had handed over to [Y/N].

Tara felt a thrill of foreboding as she reached for the box and opened it. She clenched her jaw as she ignored the platinum bracelet inside, focusing on the orange color of the box’s inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, writer's block is terrible.
> 
> I found Aurodium on the Star Wars wiki. Some of you may guess at what Tara installed in the emergency room in the bunker.


	6. Chapter 6

Orange. The interior of the box is _orange_. Orange meant that the First Order was getting warmer…

Tara headed for Vegas’ home as soon as she saw the lining of the box, but not before sending out an order to every active droid in the house to go on high alert and assuring [Y/N] that she will return as quickly as possible.

She knew that Alban Vegas would hide Moreb in his home. To get there, Tara sped down to the docks where she met Moreb that one night and turned to follow the stretch of road leading to the peninsula connected to the mainland. When she accepted the job offer from Vegas years ago, Tara was surprised to learn that the quietly dressed man didn’t just live there, he _owned_ the whole peninsula.

Considering how he managed to contact her, Tara decided not to pry too much into Vegas’ business, though Moreb once shared that the trader struck it rich when he discovered an aurodium mine on one of Del Mara’s moons. At any rate, Tara and Vegas became very good friends.

From above, the peninsula looked uninhabited. The secretive Vegas carefully developed his property with the finesse of a conservationist and the eye for detail of an architect. The roof of his large estate was painted to match the foliage of the forest. A few cottages were built at random around the massive garden estate for his guests and business partners, one of which contained Moreb. Tara was led to the cottage by Alban Vegas himself, a short, broad-shouldered man with the palest hair and complexion Tara had ever seen on a human sentient. Even his eyes seem to be a touch more white than pale blue.

“I suspect that Moreb brings more than grave tidings to Del Mara, so I sent Amira and the children to the other side of the planet with half the staff for the meantime,” Vegas explained in his quiet way as he led the way to the closest cottage. “Karina had just returned from hiding their ship in the usual spot. I am glad Karina followed my suggestion; she looked ready to throttle Moreb the moment he opens his eyes. I hope this is enough to cool her temper.”

Tara didn’t respond as Vegas unlocked the door to the modest cottage. By Vegas’ standards, modest meant a two-story building that looked simply designed on the outside but lavishly furnished on the inside. She followed her friend to a room on the ground floor.

“Damn it, old man,” Tara growled as she removed her helmet and gazed on her unconscious friend wearing the unwieldly bacta suit. She turned to the other two people inside the room and demanded, “What happened, Karina?”

The gray-haired woman sitting next to Moreb’s prone form looked up at Tara. Where Moreb was tall and broad, his wife Karina was shorter and sported the kind of curves that made many a man and woman turn around and take notice. Despite being about eighteen years Tara’s senior, the woman seemed ageless to the Force-user.

“What happened?” the older woman repeated gruffly. “We nearly got our ass handed to us when we did a bit of recon over on Cantonica. This lug here decided to follow a dreadnought that Kylo Ren was on and nearly got killed before we could haul our ass out of there.”

“Cantonica,” Tara whispered. That wasn’t good; the bastards really were getting warmer. “Fuck.”

\---

Tara left the Vegas peninsula, eager to return home. She needed to make preparations; she had to warn [Y/N].

But it wasn’t until she parked her speeder and handed the keys over to one of her faithful droids that Tara sensed that something was amiss. A ripple in the Force…

“[Y/N],” she whispered in horror before sprinting towards the house.

She used the Force to open the door before her. She sprinted up the stairs and used the Force again to open the door to [Y/N]’s room. Breathing heavily, she looked down at her sleeping cousin, who looked to be in the throes of a disturbing dream.

But Tara knew this wasn’t a dream.

“No…please, leave us alone,” [Y/N] whimpered. Her arms were close to her sides and she turned in a strange, halting fashion, as though someone was holding her arms to her sides…

It couldn’t be.

“No!” Tara snarled as she strode to [Y/N]’s side and reached out to her cousin…

_The world around them disintegrated into swirls of color. Though the surroundings were blurry to Tara, she was able to see two people very clearly lying next to her. One of them was [Y/N], who looked terrified as she was held in the arms of a large, shirtless man on the opposite side…_

_“You!” Tara hissed as Kylo Ren raised his head to look at her._

_The dark-haired man narrowed his eyes as he tightened his hold on her cousin. Tara growled and reached out to grab his forearm, tightening her hold on him with a vise-like tenacity in an attempt to free [Y/N]._

_“Get your hands off her,” Tara snarled._

_In response, Kylo tightened his hold on [Y/N]. Meanwhile, [Y/N] wiggled helplessly in his grip as she attempted to twist around towards her cousin._

_“She belongs with us, you bitch!” Kylo Ren growled, looking furiously at Tara. “Give her back to us!”_

_“Do you even hear yourself, Ben?” Tara hissed. “She’s a person, not an object! I wouldn’t be so cruel as to bring her back to her abusers!”_

_The man looked shocked, like Tara had slapped him—or worse. “We wouldn’t—we won’t…”_

_“You wouldn’t?!” [Y/N] cried out, twisting out of Kylo’s grip and scrambling awkwardly towards her cousin. “You_ wouldn’t?! _How could you say that after everything you did to me?!”_

_He looked at [Y/N] with a sorrowful expression. “Pet, haven’t we taken care of you, protected you…?”_

_“Protect her?!” Tara shrieked. She started to pull her cousin away from Kylo, realizing a bit late that he seemed to be positioned and dressed as though he was roused from bed. He was most likely in bed when this strange connection occurred. “How are you protecting her when you hurt her every day and allow your enemies to attempt to kill her?! You even used her as bait, you fucking asshole! You don’t deserve her and I will make sure that her children will be protected from monsters like you and Hux!”_

_Kylo flinched at Tara’s words._

_“Get out!” Tara screamed at him. “GET OUT!”_

\---

Tara breathed in deeply and opened her eyes. She was in bed, holding on to a crying figure.

“[Y/N]!” she gasped, gently squeezing her cousin.

In her arms, [Y/N] started to cry.

“I’m sorry!” she sobbed, her shoulders shaking with fear. “I didn’t know what was happening! I was just t-taking a nap, and then I-I saw him! He was in this room, and he told me they were looking for me…”

“Shhhh, it’s alright honey,” Tara crooned at her, rocking her gently in her arms as her shoulder was drenched from [Y/N]’s tears. “I promise you, they will never hurt you again.”

Tara looked out the window as she said this, hoping that this was one promise she could keep.


	7. Chapter 7

Oddly enough, Kylo Ren had provided the opening for Tara to share the grim news: that the First Order was looking for [Y/N] and that they were getting close. He had said as much to [Y/N] before Tara arrived; there was no excuse to hide it from [Y/N].

After sharing all the information that she knew, Tara became alarmed when [Y/N] started to shake.

“I knew it was too good to be true,” [Y/N] whimpered, letting herself be enveloped by Tara’s arms as the older woman softly crooned to her. “They want my babies, Tara. They’ll never stop until they have them, a-and they’ll punish me for running away…”

“The hell they are,” Tara growled. “They’ll have to kill me first before I let that happen. Oh, hush now, don’t you worry! I’m too stubborn to be killed.”

_He tried to kill me years ago…_

“B-but there are worse ways to b-be punished,” [Y/N] whispered. “I-I saw one…h-he would th-threaten to make me one if I didn’t behave o-or if I lose the b-babies…”

And that was when a curious Tara used the Force to take a peek into her cousin’s mind, to see the  memory of a woman draped in a livery of gold and burgundy, serene and silent and…devoid of a skull.

“What in the name of the Maker?” Tara whispered, clutching tighter to [Y/N]. “I can’t believe the rumors were true…and they _threatened_ you with that?”

[Y/N] nods.

Tara closed her eyes, willing the spike in her blood pressure to subside. She tamped down the urge to demand from her fragile cousin every single detail of what those two men put her through. _Protect her, my ass_. If threatening to decraniate [Y/N] into complacency was their idea of protecting her...

“They’ll never hurt you again, dearest,” she vowed. “You and your children are under my protection now.”

\---

Since that Force connection with Kylo, Tara slept in [Y/N]’s room. Jessa set up a bedroll next to [Y/N]’s bed for Tara to sleep in, despite [Y/N]’s weak protests that her cousin could share her bed, but Tara wouldn’t hear of it. She suspects that Kylo Ren would attempt to reach out to [Y/N] again, and she needed to be there to protect her cousin. And owing to the fact that [Y/N] was very close to giving birth, Janna stood nearby to monitor [Y/N]’s stats.

In the morning, Tara ordered her droids to be on high alert as she left the house on some errands.

A random number of human-like figures wearing gray robes patrolled the perimeter of the house on the cliffside. Tara had immeditately informed Vegas of this security upgrade, but in all the excitement, she forgot to inform a few more key people.

A couple of days later, Edra and Mari decided to pay a visit to [Y/N]. The two women screamed their heads off when three of the guards jumped out of the trees right in front of them, pointing blasters in their faces. Tara ordered the droids to escort the two women to her home, where she and Janna checked up on them. Thankfully, the two women were fine, albeit shaken.

“I apologize for the extra security,” Tara said sincerely as Janna served the two women large cups of sweet iced wine. “Something came up and we had to bolster security around the house.”

Edra drank deeply from her cup while Mari just took a sip. Black-haired Mari then put her cup down and gave Tara a shrewd look.

Of the two women, Mari was always quicker on the uptake.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with the _situation_ you saved your cousin from, would it?” Mari asked quietly.

Tara looked back coolly as Edra abruptly stopped drinking. The blonde handed over her empty cup to Janna before patting her mouth with a handkerchief, looking intently between her friends.

“It does,” Tara simply said. Like the doctors, the Force-user had given these women the bare facts of [Y/N]’s previous _situation_ at the beginning, and the retired nurses nodded sagely. These women have experience treating battered patients from toxic circumstances, and they immediately understood what [Y/N] must be going through. It was why Tara was generous in crediting these women in helping her cousin heal, because it was true.

In an instant, the women’s demeanor changed from motherly to hard.

“You mean to tell us that the man you rescued [Y/N] from is coming here?” Edra gasped, outraged.

(Tara decided not to clarify that there were two men, for the security of both these women and her cousin.)

“I’m afraid so,” Tara replied.

Mari surprised her by suddenly standing up, though her shorter stature meant that the top of her head barely reached Tara’s shoulders.

“Well, what can we do to help?” asked Mari.

Tara blinked, looking from Mari to Edra, who also stood up behind her friend. Suddenly, one of the half-baked plans she had in mind begins to look more promising.

“Actually, now that you’ve mentioned it…”

\---

That night, as Tara suspected, she feels a ripple in the Force.

_Like the last time, their surroundings are blurred. Only the three of them are solid in this landscape—no, not just the three of them. The fourth body is somewhat obscured by Kylo’s half-prone body. His face was turned away from them, but there was no mistaking the brilliant red hair of Emperor Armitage Hux._

_[Y/N] immediately scoots closer to her cousin. Tara adjusts her position so that [Y/N] was half leaning against her._

_“Why—HOW is this happening?” [Y/N] whispers._

_“The better question is ‘WHO is allowing this to happen?’” Tara murmurs. She places a hand over her cousin’s belly._

_“Oh!” [Y/N] gasps, running her own hand over her stomach._

_Leaning on his side, Kylo raises himself up on one arm, giving [Y/N] a searching look before turning to Tara._

_“Snooping around again?” he says quietly._

_Tara snorts. “As someone who is concerned for [Y/N]’s health and welfare, I_ have _to be here.”_

_Kylo clenched his jaw at the jab. “We do take Pet’s health seriously…”_

_Tara laughs derisively. They’re calling her_ Pet _?_

_“Really, when? When you realized that she was pregnant on the night that you used her as bait?”_

_To her savage satisfaction, this made Kylo flinch. Then he had the audacity to send a hurt look to [Y/N]._

_“_ She _didn’t tell me,” Tara added. “I have other sources of information.”_

 _With an effort, Tara conjured up the image of a woman wearing the robes of a Handmaiden at the end of the bed. Kylo inhaled sharply as [Y/N] gasped, seeing at how this woman eerily resembled her. She was remembering the plans Hux shared, where they sent out decoys who resembled her to different parts of the galaxy in order to confuse the people who want to assassinate her. One of them had been killed_ en route _to a secret location._

_“We made it look like everyone on the ship died right after we captured the decoy. I learned so much from her…especially how terrified [Y/N] was while in your ‘care’.”_

_Tara’s face hardens._

_“And how many times you deliberately put [Y/N] into harm’s way. Tell me KYLO—did you really need to force [Y/N] into unconsciousness when you tried to get information about her non-existent ties with Novak? Or if she was taking something to make her miscarry? Is that taking her health seriously? ”_

_[Y/N] edged closer to her cousin as she saw how the large man was reacting to Tara’s words. It was alarming to see the shock, guilt, and rage pass over his features._

_“Tell me, are you thinking of her_ safety _when you’re trudging all over the galaxy in your big-ass warships?” Tara asks softly. “It’s like you’re broadcasting it to your enemies, you fucking nerfherder. More to the point, have you even_ caught _the people who want her and her children dead?”_

_Before Kylo could reply, their surroundings vanished._

“He looks so angry,” [Y/N] whispered.

“ _He’s_ angry?” Tara snorted. “Boy, wait ‘til he finds out what we’ve got planned for him and his boyfriend.”

\--

A few days later, the Emperor and his Hound arrived on Del Mara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in the space of days! Yes, Tara is pulling receipts and showing Kylo Ren the taxes.
> 
> Also, these updates are brought to you by stress from RL.

**Author's Note:**

> While reading the "hard" parts of **The Emperor, The Hound, and The Whore** , I start to imagine a rescue for the Reader. Next thing I knew, I start writing it and decide to send it to Alexia_Imriel_Courcel, who encouraged me to post it. I had my reasons not to post this yet (one being that she hasn't finished her fic yet), so I spent several weeks fleshing out the "rescue fic". I figure that now would be a good time to post the first chapter.
> 
> Warning: I'll be updating this fanfic once a week. Sorry about that, but the outcome of this will be dependent on the outcome of the original fanfic. ;)


End file.
